Recently, Moore lost a job with the University of Minnesota’s Urban Research and Outreach Center (UROC), which the complaint alleges that Hoff and Allen had a hand in. It states that the pair acted in “intentional interference with contract, and/or aiding and abetting, over their cooperative effort to get Plaintiff Jerry Moore fired from his job.” A June 21 Johnny Northside blog post, entitled, Former JACC Executive Director Jerry Moore Hired by U of M, Neighborhood Leaders Are All, Like, WTF?is referenced for its discussion of allegations that Moore is tied to a mortgage fraud scheme. The post, it criticizes, continues by saying that any UROC attempts to connect with Jordanites will probably fail until Moore is removed from the University position. Hoff’s post was followed-up with an email from Allen, which was published in the wee hours of June 22, the complaint says, adding that it contained false and defamatory statements concerning Moore’s alleged involvement in mortgage fraud. Later that day, however, UROC terminated Moore, according to the complaint. Also mentioned in the complaint are additional posts from Johnny Northside which seemingly illustrate that the blog was instrumental in the U of M’s action, it states.

What does the U of M have to say? Daniel Wolter, the U of M’s news service director, responded via email that Moore was hired in mid-May “by UROC for what is called a “casual temporary” job. It’s typically used for very short-term work, usually specific to a particular task. His job was reviewing and analyzing newspaper content under the supervision of an academic researcher. His work has been completed and he was given notice on June 22. His leaving University employment was not related to performance issues. The University was unaware of the allegations against Mr. Moore at the time of the hiring and is currently not aware of the details of the allegations — nor are we in a position to comment on them.”